Silhouettes
by NotSoDangerousDan
Summary: "If it wasn't for her then Joel would of put a bullet in his mouth a long time ago" /\ Jessie has always wanted to leave the zone, she had the skills for it, but her father wouldn't let her. But now he has no choice as a young girl by the name of Ellie forces them both to pack up and go on an adventure none of them were ready for
1. Bad Dreams

_It's hard letting go_

_I'm finally at peace but it feels so wrong_

_Slow I'm getting up_

_My hands and feet are weaker than before_

_And you are folded on the bed_

_Where I rest my head_

_There's nothing I can see_

_Darkness becomes me_

_But I'm already there, I'm already there_

_Wherever there is you_

_I will be there too_

-0-

As soon as the phone cut of and she no longer heard Tommy's panicked voice, Sarah immediately felt a wave of dread wash over her. She slowly stood up, rubbed her tired eye's and headed out of her bedroom to find her father and tell him what just happened.

She opened her door and shivered at the cold air that hit her. He must of left a window open or something. "Dad?" she called out, hoping for a response. When none came, she ventured further down the hall and called out again. She flinched as soon as she turned the corner as a bright light hit her slowly adjusting eye's. She squinted to get a better look and saw it was coming from her dad and Jessie's room

"Daddy?" Sarah said much quiet than the previous times, just now realising that she may wake up Jessie accidentally with all her yelling

"You in here?" She asked as she pushed the door open.

He wasn't

She walked toward's the crib that was at the foot of his messy bed and peeked in. Jessie was still sleeping in the same position she was in from when Sarah put her down around 5 or so hours ago

Sarah looked up at the TV and watched the news report curiously. Strange; Dad never watches the news. Someone probably told him to. Maybe it was Tommy

"We need to move everyone out of here now, there's a gas leak" A fireman appeared on the screen and tried ushering the news lady away. But she didn't budge, obviously wanting to continue with her report. Something about a pandemic._ 'Probably just another case of Swine Flu_' Sarah thought

Sarah almost dropped to the ground after the shock wave that hit her. She looked up and saw the explosion's on TV, then she looked out the window and saw the explosion's downtown. She knew it was nearby

_Some case of swine flu..._

She walked over to Jessie's crib and picked up the now sobbing 2 year old that had just been woken from her sleep "Shh. It's okay" Sarah told her softly, resting Jessie on her hip. Jessie tilted her head and rested it in the crook of Sarah's neck and shoved her thumb in her mouth, hoping that she could maybe fall asleep like this

Sarah retreated out of her dad's room and called for him again and again "Where is he?" she asked Jessie who just mumbled tired gibberish

She walked down stair's and watched the flash of red and blue that zoomed past the living room window "what is going on?" she said in something quieter than a whisper.

Sarah sat Jessie down on top of the kitchen counter where they keep various reminder type thing's and picked up the phone that was spread among the pile. It was her father's phone "8 missed calls... Where are you?... on my way?" she sat the phone back down, taking note that the time was 02:15. That means she went to bed about an hour ago. Time really does fly

"C'mon baby girl" Sarah said, hoisting Jessie back up to her hip

Sarah walked into her dad's office after seeing that the sliding door was open. She felt the cold breeze hit her and she felt Jessie hold onto her more tightly, trying to steal some of her big sister's body heat

She jumped back when he dad came running in, looking frantic and flustered. Honestly, he looked like he had just run a marathon "There you are" Sarah pointed out as he slammed the door closed and stared out as if he was looking for something

"Sarah... are you alright? And Jessie?"

"Yeah, we're fine dad... what's going on?"

"Has anyone come in here?" he asked her, going over to his desk and rummaging around

"No..." She adjusted Jessie on her hip "Who would come in here?"

"Dont go near the doors!" Joel turned his head to look at her. Then he turned back around and pulled out a small box from one of the draws and started fiddling around inside it "Just stand back there with your sister"

"You're kinda freakin' me out dad" Sarah informed him. She still hadn't gotten a simple answer yet to her question. "what's going on?" she asked again

"It's the Cooper's" Joel lifted up what seemed to be a gun and started loading it up with bullet's "Something aint right with them. I think they're sick"

"What kinda sick?" Sick like what the news reporter said before the explosion?

Joel didn't have time to answer his eldest daughter before Jimmy Cooper - his next door neighbour, whom just this morning was talking about having a barbeque for the whole neighbour hood - slammed himself into the door making all sorts of weird noises

"JIMMY!" Joel yelled

"Dad" Sarah called out, taking a step back and tightening her grasp on Jessie who was starting to shake out of fear of the unknown

"Honey, come here" Joel walked toward's his daughter's and held them behind his back and held up is pistol to Jimmy who was still slamming himself into the door, trying to break it down

Which he finally did

"Jimmy, JUST STAY BACK!" Joel warned him, taking the safety off and steadying his aim. But Jimmy didn't listen. Even covered in glass shard's that were poking out of his skin, Jimmy still ran at them "DONT!" Joel yelled as he got close enough to grab them. Joel closed his eye's, turned away and then fired 3 bullet's into Jimmy's chest, bringing him down for good

"Oh my god" Sarah whimpered, seeing the corpse of Mr. Cooper. He was a nice guy, his son Walter sometimes came around for dinner and Sarah would sometimes go over there. Jimmy was always so friendly to her and even bought her a band shirt for her birthday

"Go, go, go" Joel said, grabbing his youngest daughter to hold for himself "Sarah hurry" he urged his oldest daughter who was following close behind as they made there way through their house

"You shot him" Sarah stuttered, stopping in the middle of the living room. Joel turned around to look at her. He sighed and stepped closer and placed his wrist on her shoulder. It was the best he could do since he was holding a gun AND a toddler

"Listen Sarah-"

"I saw him this mornin'" she interrupted

"Listen to me, there is something very bad goin' on. We have got to get outta here do you understand?"Sarah sniffed and nodded

"Tommy..." Joel saw the light's climbing up the back wall. He turned and saw Tommy's car pull into the driveway, his headlights as bright as ever "C'mon" he ushered her again as he made his way quickly toward's the front door

"Where the hell you been?" Tommy bombarded Joel as soon as he stepped out onto his porch "You have any idea bout what's going on out there?"

"I got some notion" Joel said coldly. He placed the gun in his back pocket and used his now free hand to open the back door of his brother's car and helped Sarah get in. Then, he closed the door for her and pulled himself into the passenger seat and pulled the seatbelt over him and Jessie who was sitting on his lap

"Holy shit" Tommy muttered, looking at his brother "You got blood all over you" He pointed out. Joel looked down and noted at all the crimson splotches that covered most of his shirt and the top portion of his jeans. It was Jimmy's blood

Jimmy...

"It aint mine" he said, a slight darkness to his voice. He killed James Cooper. Jimmy Cooper was never going to walk the earth again, never going to hug his wife or two children because Joel shot him.

_It was either him or me _He reminded himself

Leaning over, Joel yanked the car door closed. Tommy started up the car and the four Texan's drove away from their family home without a single goodbye, not knowing that it would be the last time they saw the place for a very long time. They drove mostly in silence, every now and again Tommy would ask how Sarah was doing and he would say words to Jessie who was still in Joel's lap, playing with her father's fingers

"Holy hell" Said Tommy, his mouth gaping. The three looked out the window and towards the burning farmhouse "That's Louis' farm" Louis was a quiet man; kept to himself. He had two daughter's and a son who was a couple years older than Sarah. The two daughter's were off at college in another state. God only know's if they're alright. "I hope that son of a bitch made it out"

"Are we sick?" asked Sarah. Jimmy seemed fine this morning and he was sick. She felt fine but she might not later. She had to know if it was possible

"No, they're saying only people in the city are so we're fine" answered Tommy

"Jimmy worked in the city... " She said sadly, looking down at her lap

"That's right, he did" Replied Joel bluntly. He had to stop thinking about it since the more he did the more bad he might feel. It wasn't Jimmy and he had to start remembering that

They went on with the drive in silence one again. No one daring to say anything in fear of angering or upsetting one another. This whole ordeal was just too much to take in and none of them really knew how to handle it. Tommy spotted a family at the side of the raod and would of pulled over to help them but Joel told him to keep driving

"They have a kid Joel" Tommy pointed out, shocked by his brother's response

"Yeah, well we have two" He said grimly, looking down at Jessie who was staring out the window with wide eye's, watching the tree's fly by "Someone else will come along" He assured his younger brother

"Oh this is bad..." Said Tommy, gulping as the car came to a stop behind a line of other cars the stretched for miles. They had planned to take this route as it was quicker but it seemed every and their mothers had the same idea

"We could maybe backtrack an-"

"HEY WHAT THE FUCK MAN?!" a man they didn't recognize got out of his car and started yelling at the car infront of him. He must of had enough sitting there without moving

Joel found his grip tightening on Jessie and even pulled her closer to him as someone or... something attacked the man. It pushed him into the car and started ripping the flesh from him "Holy shit. Turn us around" Joel said quietly "Tommy" he said again when his brother didn't reply "TOMMY FUCKING DRIVE" He yelled

"Holy shit" Said Tommy, panicked as he shifted the car and slammed the pedal's, causing the car to zoom backwards. He shifted again and this time the car raced forward in another direction and the thing that had been eating the man and trying to get to them crashed into Sarah's window, causing her to let out a squeak

"Turn here turn here" Ushered Joel, pointing to a turning that would lead them down Jackson Street. Tommy turned the car and slammed the brakes when he say the large amount of people running towards them

"C'mon people, move" Tommy uttered as he slowly drove forward, trying not to hit anybody

"What are they running from?" Asked Sarah who was growing more scared as the seconds ticked by. No one answered except Jessie who responded with random words that didn't make sense after hearing her sister's voice

"We can't stop here"

"Well I can't drive threw 'em Joel!"

"WELL BACK UP THEN!"

"There behind me too!" The two siblings bickered

"There! There!" Joel pointed to an opening and Tommy nodded and drove threw it which led into an empty street. They were relieved as it seemed to be a straight shot from here to the bridge that would allow them out of Austin and hopefully to somewhere safer

"LOOK OUT!" Called Sarah, pushing herself backwards away from the window as a truck bigger than Tommy's rushed down the hill they were passing and crashed straight into them. The pick-up flipped over onto it's side, Throwing all of its passenger's

Jessie cried at the pain and tried to grab her dad. Sarah sat herself up and looked over "Shh it's okay" she hushed the little girl, noticing the few scratches on her face. Thank god it wasn't anything to severe "Daddy" she shook her father's shoulder, trying to wake him up "Dad" she said again when he groaned

"I'm okay, i'm okay" he reassured her before pulling Jessie close to his chest so he could kick the window on the car door. Jessie was still crying but not as much when Joel was pulling them both out of the wreckage

Tommy had managed to get out and he hadn't been as quick as he was, one of those things would of gotten Joel and Jessie. He smashed it in the face with a brick, taking it down straight away. Tommy and Joel shared a brotherly look that told each other they were okay. He took hold of Jessie so Joel could get Sarah

"I'm here baby, alright? Give me your hand" He kneeled down and extended his hand toward's her. Sarah pulled herself forward and around the chair so she was in the front row. She reached to take her father's hand but when she put some weight on her leg she fell forward "What is it?" he asked, holding onto her arms

"My leg hurt's" she informed him, wincing when she tried to move it

"How bad?"

"Pretty bad"

Tommy walked backwards, still holding onto Jessie. He could hear the yells of those things and the noise was getting closer "We gotta get outta here" he told the two "and we're gonna need to run"

"Oh god" Joel breathed out as he pulled his gun from the back of his jean's and handed it to Tommy "You think you can handle that and Jessie?" he asked as he picked Sarah up bridal style

"Yeah"

"Keep us safe" Tommy nodded and they all took off, running down the street. Tommy managed the toddler and the gun, though it wasn't a great combo. Jessie would try and grab the weapon and since Tommy couldn't yell at her to stop, he had to move it out of the way which almost resulted in Jessie being grabbed since the gun wasn't in the right direction to shoot the monster. Thankfully, he was able to in time and when the gun fired it scared Jessie enough that she decided to stop trying to touch it

They turned down the street after a car drove into the gas station, blowing it up. They felt the gust of wind that followed. It was hot and burned their skin slightly but not enough to leave a mark. They ran down the new street, Armadillo's Theatre was at the very end. They had been there a couple times. Last month, Sarah dragged Joel there to go see 'Dawn Of The Wolf' it was some stupid teen's movie but if Sarah liked it then so did he

A car then drove into the door's of it, setting it on fire also. The fire and the car blocked off the end of the street and caused Joel and Tommy to come to a halt "THIS WAY!" Yelled Tommy, running towards an alley. Tommy pushed the gate open and allowed Joel and Sarah to pass through before he closed it again

A monster scrambled to it's feet and jumped at Joel but Tommy kicked it down before it did any damage "Hold on" he told Jessie quietly as he stepped on the monster's chest and shot it in the head. Jessie tightened her grip on her uncle and buried her face in his chest. She was young but she was starting to understand that she should be scared

"THEY'RE GETTING THROUGH THE FENCE" he called back. The things were pulling at the fence's, trying to get close to them. He hoped to god they weren't clever enough to climb over

They ran into the back of Pete's Diner/Bar. It was a great place owned by a great guy. Joel ran in first and then Tommy who slammed the door closed and held onto it with his only free hand "GO!" He yelled at his brother "Get to the highway!"

"What?"

"Go- You got Sarah!" He looked down at Jessie "I'll protect her" he promised his brother

"I'll meet you there" Yelled Joel before running off. Tommy looked down at Jessie and as best as he could, lowered her to the ground. She learned to walk from an early age thank god

"Let's play Hide and Seek. You go Hide and I'll come find you in ten second's okay?" He whispered. Jessie nodded and ran off and hid behind the bar. Tommy looked back at the door and began counting out loud. He opened the door slightly and started taking out the monster's one by one all while still counting. By the time he reached ten, all the monster's that had been chasing them were now sprawled out on the marble floor, surrounded by a pool of blood

He walked behind the bar, knowing that's where she ran to. He lowered his body and placed his hands on his knee's "Found you" he said softly, lookign at Jessie who was sitting, back up against the bar with her knees up to her chest and her hands over her eye's. She was using the logic of 'I can't see you so you can't see me'

"Jessie" he said again, this time with a little more seriousness to his tone. They had to leave here now. Jessie took her hands away and giggled before standing up and running over. Tommy wrapped his arms around her and lifted her up "Let's go find your daddy"

Tommy walked out the front door, gun ready. A part of the brick wall had been knocked out so he decided to go that way. It would save him having to go all the way round. He jumped down and began walking down the muddy trek. It used to be used as a short cut to get to the highway since the other way lead to Union street and if you took that way you had to walk all the way around to get the highway which would of been an extra 30 minutes

They passed a crashed ambulance on the way and Tommy had no idea how it could of gotten there since there was no raod for a car to come up unless it fell from the small cliff above it. He only started running when he heard gun shot's

"oh no" he muttered, speeding up when he saw his brother and niece falling gown the hill. He raised his gun and fired at the soldier who was aiming his own weapon at his brother. "JOEL!" He called, hoping to get an answer that would confirm that he wasn't hurt

"Oh no..." He didn't allow his brother to finish as Sarah's whimper's pulled him away. He lowered his gun and his face dropped. Joel turned and looked over at his eldest daughter who was laying on the ground with her hands holding tightly over her stomach where a large patch of blood stained her shirt

"Sarah" he pulled her on to his lap and Sarah grabbed at his shoulder and winched when he tried to move her hands "I know it hurt's baby" he tried to sound calm for her but he couldn't. His voice was breaking and deep down he knew there was no saving her. He pushed his hand's down on her wound, not giving up even though he knew the outcome "Listen to me Sarah...You're going to be okay baby, stay with me" He took one hand off and put it under her neck so he could lift her up more "I know baby I know" Her painful cries then stopped completely "Sarah..." Joel looked back at Tommy who was on his knee's, one hand still holding onto Jessie who was clueless to her sister's death "Baby. Don't do this to me baby" He lowered his head towards her and lowered his voice so only she could hear "Don't do this to me baby girl... please. C'mon..." Tommy tried to put his hand on Joel's shoulder but he pushed it away as he rocked his daughter "Please, god"

~20 YEARS LATER~

Joel woke up with a gasp as the door knocked. He had self taught himself to wake up to loud noises since he used to be a heavy sleeper. It was a skill you needed in this world because if you couldn't you died. He pulled his hands down his face and groaned. Another reason he woke up so fast was because of what happened while he slept. He hated bad dreams

He looked at the couch and sighed when he learned that Jessie wasn't there and instead of his daughter was a note. He pulled himself out of his bed and walked over to pick it up

_Went to help Tess with the drop ~Jessie_

He shook his head and threw the note back on the couch before walking over to the door which was banging louder than ever now because of how long it took him to answer. He opened the door and in strode Tess who didn't even look at him

"Where's Jessie?" He asked her, looking behind her body to see if his daughter would walk in after her

"She wen't to town" She stated. Tess walked straight to the table and picked up a bottle of Whiskey that Jessie had acquired from a _friend_. Said she won a bet and that was her prize. That bottle has probably been sitting there for a couple week's now

"I have some interesting news for you" She stated, swiveling the liquid in her glass

Why?" He demanded, walking closer to her. It was suppose to be him and Tess making the drop not Tess and Jessie

She took a drink from her glass "Hey we had a drop to make" Tess informed him

"**We**. We had a drop to make"

"Yeah well you wanted to be left alone remember and Jessie wanted to help so I let her" She grabbed the rag from the table and started dabbing at the injury on her face

"Let me take a guess at what happened. The whole deal went south and the client made of with our pills"

Tess laughed and sat her drink down and brought the rag away from her face "Deal went off without a hitch" She stood up and pulled some cards out of her pack pocket "Enough ration card's to last us a month - easy" Ration card's were important. If you didn't have them, you didn't eat; simple

"You wanna explain this" He motioned to her eye

"We were on our way back and got jumped by a couple assholes, alright?"

"She okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine thanks for asking" She said sarcastically. Joel narrowed his brow's and Tess sighed "A split lip and a black eye, nothing she can't handle"

"Jesus" he breathed out, crossing his arms over his chest "These asshole's still with us or did she kill them?"

"You think I'd let her do that? Now that's funny" Joel took the rag from her hand and began dabbing at her wound instead since she wasn't doing much

"You find out who they were?"

"Yeah, they were a couple of nobodies who don't matter. What does matter is that Robert fucking sent them"

"Our Robert?" he asked

"He know's that we're after him. He figures he's gonna get us first"

"That son of a bitch..." Joel threw down the rag "He's smart"

"No" Tess walked over "He's not smart enough. I know where he's hiding"

"Like hell you do"

"Old Warehouse in area 5. Can't say for how long though"

"Well I'm ready now. Yeah?"

"Oh I can do now"

**I didn't mean for this chapter to be so long, SORRY!**

**So yeah this is the first chapter to my story and it pretty much follow's the story line of TLOU with my character 'Jessie' who we will see more of next chapter (That's if you want this to continue)**

**So Follow/Favourite if you want to see more and PM/Review to tell me what you Like/Didn't like about this chapter or the story in general**

**Till next time folks**

**~Erin**


	2. The Boxer

Jessie swung another punch, hitting Dean square in the nose. The crowd around her cheered and yelled various things like "HIT HIM" and "IF YOU LOSE I SWEAR I'LL KILL YOU" just another day in the zone for her. Dean dodged another one of her blows and kicked her in the chest, knocking all the wind out of her. She dropped to her knee's, one hand holding her stomach and another was on the ground, holding her up

"GET UP!" Came a crowd member's angry voice

Jessie looked up at Dean who grinned down at her, he brought his leg back down to kick her but she rolled over so he kicked the air instead and almost lost balance. She scrambled to her feet and charge at him, pushing him on the ground. She straddled his hips and started punching him over and over again and she would of continued if the designated referee hadn't pulled her off

"alright alright" He said, holding her wrist "that's enough" He held is other hand out to Dean who took it and pulled himself up. He had a busted nose that much was clear and couple bruises on his cheeks and his eye's "The winner -_again_\- is JESSIE" He held up her arm like they did in wrestling and the crowd cheered and started exchanging the ration cards they bet. On occasion, some would bet against her in hopes that they would get a large amount of ration cards but they would always lose instead

"Alright pay up" She looked over at Dean. The boxer's had a bet too. The winner got something valuable from the loser and if Jessie had lost she would of had to give him her mother's locket which would not of went down well with her dad. Dean walked over to the fence and picked up the guitar. He described it as rare but a guitar was a guitar to Jessie. She took it, thanked him then walked out of the small arena

"Jessie!" She turned around and saw her dad jogging out of the bus that was now used as a sort of bridge the connected the two small districts which now made a sort of underground town that was kept secret from the soldiers. The bus was guarded by a man called Malik and if Tess hadn't been with Joel then he wouldn't of gotten pass. Only regulars passed him

She slung the guitar round so it rested against her back and she opened her arms to hug him but he rejected it and instead grabbed her chin and pushed her head up so he could get a better angle of her face. She slapped his hand away and stepped back "And good mornin' to you too"

Joel turned back to Tess, his face stern "That is a hell of a lot more than a busted lip and black eye" It was true. Now she had two black eye's, a cut open eyebrow and a bruise forming on her jaw

"Hey" she held up her hands in defence "That's all she had when I last saw her so don't blame me"

"What the hell happened?" He asked Jessie, turning back around to face her

"Just fighting again" Joel sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose

"I thought I told you to stop that?" She smirked and pulled the guitar around to her front and strung it

"If I had listened to you I wouldn't have this cool guitar" She strung it again and puckered her lips as she started out the opening tune for Back In Black by AC/DC

"Alright, ALRIGHT!" Joel put his hand on her shoulder, stopping her "That's enough" She nodded and huffed as she slung it back over onto her back

"Where you guys going anyway?"

"We're going to get our gun's back from Robert. Wanna help?" Said Tess, walking forward

"Oh hell yeah" She turned around and took the guitar off "Hey STEVEN!" She called out to a taller man around 25 who was sitting in a lawn chair smoking and behind him was a large shelf, filled with various things. He turned and looked at her "Take this and don't lose it cause if you do I'll cut your balls off, capisce?" He nodded "Great and could you give me my bag back?" Steven was the guy who got trusted with someone's belongings. He was the equivalent of the lockers at a bus station. He stood up and grabbed a black leather bag that had various pocket's on it and threw it towards her "Thank's man"

She turned back towards her dad and Tess and smiled "Warehouse, right?"

"How'd you know that?" Asked Joel, a brow raised

"What? You thought Tess found that out on her own? Pff... please" she muttered before walking off towards Frodo. She liked Frodo because he was named after a characters in The Lord Of The Rings. Frodo was watching the gate that led of to Zone 5 and more importantly the warehouse

"I'm looking for Robert" Tess addressed him first and walked in front of Jessie. Frodo was not a nice guy and Jessie needed to stop trying to hang around with him and Tess tried to tell her this but of course she wouldn't listen "He come threw here?" She took out her ration cards and held them up, waving them

"Half our ago" He took the ration card's from her hand and started counting them. Once he was happy with the amount he crossed his arms over his chest "He went back to the Wharf. He's there now"

"Thank's" Tess grumbled, not happy to be doing any kind of business with him. Tess and Joel walked past him with Jessie following behind

"Hey Jess" He winked

"Hey" she replied

"JESSIE!" She looked up to see Tess staring at her. She sighed and gave him a little wave before running to catch up. Tess put a hand on her back and pushed her forward with little force "I told you to stay away from him. And what about Amy? Thought you were dating her?"

Jessie shrugged as they walked along "We had a fight" she sighed

"What about?" Tess was genuinely interested. She had known Jessie since she was 6 and had instantly felt like a mother towards her. She always took interest in the same things she did and helped her through things that Joel wasn't able to

"She... " she smirked and looked down, realising how stupid it sounded in her head when she thought back "She wanted to get married"

"Excuse me?" Joel turned around. He had been listening to their conversation from up ahead but only now did it start to interest him. He knew Amy; sweet girl, not a mean bone in her body. Jessie and her had been together for around two years now

"I said no don't worry"

"Why in the hell would you do that?" He asked

"Because... If we make it official then it will just hurt more when she dies. You know it and I know it. If she get's attacked by infected she's done and if she gets grabbed by hunter's she's worse than done"

"Whose to say you won't be there to protect her?" Asked Tess

"I ain't always gonna be there" she then turns the corner and walks through a gate and is greeted by 3 angry looking men. Tess and Joel run forward and step infront of her

"Head back if you know what's good for you" The main one said. He was an average build man, dark skin and angry eye's. He looked each one of them up and down, trying to suss them out. His tough guy act wouldn't work on them but he didn't know that

"Our beef isn't with you" Tess told them "We just want Robert"

"Turn the fuck around and leave now"

Jessie walked forward and looked him dead in the eye "How about you fuck off and mind your own damn business"

"Bitch" The man took a couple steps forward, getting closer to her "I will bash your skull in unless you turn the fuck around and walk your pretty little ass away"

"Oh go fuck y-" Before she could finish her sentence, a bullet flew past her head and straight into the forehead of the man she was just yelling at. She was suddenly tugged back and behind the wooden crates. She looked over at Tess who shrugged her shoulders

"We didn't have the time" she declared "Now get your gun out and help us kill these assholes" Jessie pulled one strap off her shoulders quickly and opened her bag. She reached in and pulled out the first gun she found and then threw her bag back over her shoulder. She ran around the right side and took cover over there and aimed up and shot one of them in the head. Joel managed to get the other two with help from Tess

"How'd he get so many guys?" Joel questioned

"If there's one thing he's good at, that's writing blank check's"

"And being a dick" Jessie pointed out

"And being a dick" Tess quoted her

She jogged past the two and launching herself up the wall. Her hands grabbed onto the brick so tight that her knuckles went white and her palms red. She pulled herself up and then looked down at the two older ones. She held her arm down and Tess grabbed onto it. She pulled her up and then the two of them pulled up Joel which turned out to be a lot harder than she last remembered

The three of them walked forward in silence. Not because they didn't know what to say but because if they did talk someone might hear and they're whole position would be blown

They ducked under an opening in a gate and jumped down onto lower ground and straight away headed for cover "Shit... more of Robert's guys" Tess complained

"I see 'em" Said Joel

"How do you know they're comin'?" One of the men asked the other

"Two of our guy's died trying to take Tess and Jessie out. I guarantee they are on their way here right now with Joel" Joel turned to look at his daughter who just shrugged. It was either them or her and Tess and Jessie didn't really feel like dying

They took out all the guys on the outside easily and headed through the building where they were met with more douchebags. They were getting tired so decided to just shoot them all quickly instead of trying to stealth their way through it

"We should of brought more people" Commented Tess. In truth, it might of been easier but they would of j-

"They would of just slowed us down" Replied Joel

"Took the words right outta my mouth, pops"

"Pops?"

"Mhm"

Joel was about to retort something but Tess cut him off "C'mon you two" she headed down the stairs "The dock's are this way, let's do this"


	3. Time For Smuggling

Joel pulled the chain, opening up the gate and let Jessie and Tess go through first before he slammed it down "There it is" Jessie said, pointing at the large warehouse which used to house Boat's and ship's and all the product they brought with them. Now it was just some sleazy joint that get's passed around for different uses. Just three months ago this is where chics would go to make some extra ration card's

"Let's be smart about this, there's a lot of 'em" Tess reminded the two Texan's. They nodded and the three of them got to work. In the whole process, they maybe only killed three people, maybe less. You can never tell if you have just badly injured someone or ended their life. Jessie had found a small shiv which is like a homemade knife

"hey" she whispered to her dad. He turned and she threw it at him "Catch" She had her own pocket knife which Amy gave her for her 21st birthday so she didn't need a stupid little shiv. Plus they break really easy

Still crouching, Jessie looked around "Alright we're good" she said quietly as she slowly stood up. None of the other goon's had noticed them so they were safe to continue. She walked towards the door and took a step in but was pulled back straight away by the scruff of her collar

"Goddamn" she groaned and peeked inside the room to see Robert holding a gun up and firing. Atleast the goons are idiots and will think he's just practicing for when they arrive

"C'mon Robert, we just wanna talk" Tess called in

"We ain't got nothing to talk about!" He yelled. Jessie heard a few clicks and realised that he was out of bullets so what did she do? She ran in of course to grab him. Robert threw his gun at her, hitting her in the chest but it didn't phase her and she kept running, her dad not far behind. They ran through the building, chasing Robert. In truth, it only lasted about 10 second's since Robert was an idiot but it felt like longer cause she knew if she messed up then they wouldn't get another chance so everything went in slow motion

She vaulted over a window and squinted when the light hit her eye's but she didn't stop. She pounced on Robert, throwing him to the ground. He was lying on his stomach, his face buried in he gravel and she was keeping it there by holding her hand down on his head. She adjusted herself on his back and looked back to see her dad and Tess walking over

Tess walked infront of them and kneeled down. She grabbed his pony tail and yanked his head up "Hello Robert" she said in a sing song voice

"Tess" he grumbled

"Get off him" Joel held out his hand and pulled Jessie up when she took it. Then he grabbed Robert and yanked him up to his feet

"Joel" he said. He looked between the three of them and scoffed "No hard feelings, right?" Tess picked up a pipe that was lying on the ground and played with it in her hands

"No, none at all" She then smacked him in the knee's with it, knokcing him back to the ground. Jessie winced and looked away

"That gotta hurt" she murmured

"Look, whatever it is you heard, it ain't true, okay?" He breathed out, holding onto his leg "I just wanna say-"

"The guns" Tess commanded. She was getting tired of hearing his voice and wanted to know where the hell their gun's where "You wanna tell us where the gun's are?"

"Yeah sure... but" he sighed "It's complicated alright?" Joel, who had been leaning against the wall letting Tess deal with him decided that he should step in. He walked over and slammed his foot down on Robert's face. He lowered himself to the ground and grabbed Robert's arm and held it in such away that even the slightest movement would hurt and the most violent of movements would break it "STOP STOP!" Robert cried out

"Man up" Jessie spoke from her place by the window. This was pathetic; him lying there, crying. If he had just told them where the guns whe- no if he hadn't taken the guns in the first place none of this would of happened. It's is own fault and he should take it like a man

"I sold 'em!" He finally admitted

"YOU WHAT?!" Jessie pushed herself forward and kicked the side of his head in a fit of anger. Those where** their** guns! Not his. He had no right to sell them, he had** no** right to them. Tess outstretched her arm across Jessie's chest and moved her back but never broke eye contact with Robert

"Excuse me" She said calmly

"I didn't have much of a ch-"

"Choice my ass!" Jessie barked at him

"Hey, calm down" Joel cautioned her. Jessie turned around and exhaled, rubbing her chin. She was gonna kill him. Do you know how long it took to get those guns? A really long fucking time. Do you know what they had to do to get those guns? A lot of fucking things they ain't proud of. And you know what this dick does? Fucking. Sells. Them.

He's dead

"I owed someone!" He looked up at her

"You owed us!" Jessie countered

"J-just give me a week"

"You know, I might of done that if you hadn't tried to fucking kill us first"

"C'mon it wasn't like t-"

"WHO HAS OUR GUNS!?"

He paused for a couple of seconds before breathing out "I can't" Tess and Joel shared an understanding look and then in the blink of an eye, Joel snapped his arm. Robert screamed out and turned over to his side. Jessie grimaced at the look of his now floppy arm

"Who as our guns?" Tess asked again

"It's the fireflies" he panted "I owed the fireflies"

"What?" Tess groaned. The fireflies... great

"Look they're basically all dead. We can just - just go in there and take them all. Finish 'em off. We get the guns. Whadaya say?" He was pleading now and it was more pathetic than before

"That is a stupid idea" Tess raised her gun but Jessie held up her hand, signaling her to stop

"He ain't worth the bullet" she reminded her. Jessie then leaned down and grabbed the sides of his head. She smirked when she saw tears forming around his eyes "Night Robert" and then in one swift motion, she snapped his neck

"Well now what?" scoffed Joel. Robert was dead and they needed a firefly and fireflies are pretty secretive. Fireflies were like this organisation; a hidden organisation. They're main goal is to bring back branches of of government after the wake of the military oppression. So far, they're fighting a losing war against FEDRA and the military say they will be gone by then end of the year. Show's what they know

"We get our merchandise back" Tess informed him

"How?" Jessie chimed in

"I don't know" Tess shrugged, clear annoyance in her voice "We... explain it to them. Look... let's go find a firefly" She sounded so defeated and she should be. Firefly's don't just appear out of mid-air

"You won't have to look very far" Jessie jumped and spun round. She reached her hand behind her back and rested it on her gun

"There's no need for that" Marlene stated, looking at her

"There ya go... Queen firefly"

"Why are you here?"she went on

"Business" Tess told her bluntly

"What are you doing here?" Jessie asked her

"... the same" she replied, looking behind the two girls

"You aren't looking so hot" Tess pointed out. It was true that Marlene was clearly injured. There was blood on her side where her hand was clamped down. She must of been shot

"Is that Robert?" She nodded towards the limp body on the ground. Tess and Jessie side-stepped to reveal him and nodded. She chuckled and looked up at the sky for a couple of seconds, thinking things over "I needed him alive"

"The gun's he gave you... they weren't his to sell. I want them back" Tess informed her

"It doesn't work like that Tess" Marlene told her

"The hell it does"

"I paid for those gun's" She started walking forward "You want them back? You're gonna have to earn them"

Tess looked back at Joel who just shrugged his shoulders. What the hell would a firefly want? "How many card's are we talking?" Guessed Tess

"I don't give a damn about ration card's" She snorted "I need something smuggled out of the city" she got serious again

"Like what?" This perked Jessie's interest since she was normally the one that smuggled supplies in from one of their out of town friends. His name was Bill and well he was... he was a bit... there isn't even words to describe what Bill was. Jessie was the only one he seemed to trust to drop Supplies off and pick them up again. Those where the only times she was ever aloud out of the zone and even then Joel said she had to have someone accompany her

"You'll see" Marlene said, looking at her "You do this and you can have the gun's back"

"How do we know you got them?" came Joel's voice from behind the two. He walked infront of them, his arms crossed over his chest. Ah Joel... always the skeptic "Way I hear it, the Military's been wiping you guys off the map""

"You're right about that" she sighed, looking down "I'll show you the weapons" Marlene brought her attention back to the trio

"Search the are!"

"Yes sir" They looked off to the side after hearing soldier's. They must be looking for her

"I gotta move" she said in a hurry "What's it gonna be?"

"I wanna see those guns" Tess decided and then the three of them followed Marlene

-O-

The three followed Marlene for a while, making sure to dodge trucks and flee from the direction soldier's voices came from. They were doing great until they realised where they needed to cross to was being heavily guarded by soldiers. They ducked behind some large crates and and huffed. Their way out was the door under the bride and to get their they would either have to stealth through or shoot through. Stealthing might take more time and shooting would draw in some un-wanted attention

"We can sneak by them... even though I know that's not your style" Marlene said before she jogged off and up the stairs. They followed swiftly and expertly made their way through the soldier's and only had to kill one guy since the rest of the way the head to run since Jessie got spotted killing that one guy

"QUICKLY" Joel shouted back to the three girls as he opened the door and ushered them in. Once they were he slammed the door closed and he and Tess pushed the lockers that were next to it over so the door couldn't be re-opened.

Joel walked over to his daughter and smacked her on the back of the head "You idiot!" he scolded

"What?" she held where he had hit her "It wasn't my fault!" she defended herself "I didn't see the guy"

"Well he saw you!" Joel retorted

"HEY!" They both looked over at Marlene "Quit it" she pointed a finger at them before turning and walking away "This way" she called back to them "It's not far now"

"How you holding up?" Tess asked her, stepping into pace with the firefly

""Running on fumes... but i'll make it" She reassured her

"ATTENTION: CURFEW IS NOW IN FULL EFFECT. ANYONE CAUGHT OUTSIDE WITHOUT PROPER AUTHORIZATION WILL BE PROSECUTED" The loud voice filled the air around them

"Shit" Jessie muttered

"We gotta hurry" Tess told them

They walked into the next building over and up some creaky stairs. Jessie found herself staring at all the detail's of the place. What the hell must it of been like before the outbreak? She could imagine lot's of people on the street's, walking arund trying to get from home to work or maybe just out shopping. No one had to worry about dying or worse.

Marlene walked over to a door and pushed the handle down. It must of been heavy since she couldn't do it on her own "Jessie, come help me out" Jessie nodded and jogged forward and pushed the door open with Marlene. As soon as it opened, Marlene fell forward and Jessie reached out to catch her

"GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM HER" Jessie felt a sharp sting on her arm and immediately retracted away. She grabbed a hold of where it hurt and went wide eyed when she realised that she was bleeding

"Hey, hey, hey" Tess jumped forward and grabbed the arm of whoever cut Jessie. Joel grabbed Jessie's arm and moved her hand away

"Let me see it" He told her quietly. He wiped some of the blood away. There was a clear line where the knife had cut her that was still pooling blood. It wasn't deep enough that it needed stitches, thank god. Though it might leave a scar

"Let her go" Marlene said to Tess

Jessie looked over to see a young girl struggling against Tess' grip. She couldn't of been older than 13 or 14. Jessie winced at the stinging feeling that was sending shock waves through her whole body

"A-are you okay?" The girl asked Jessie. She must of seen that these people weren't actually here to harm her and Marlene

"Fine" Jessie scoffed, shaking her arm

"You're recruiting kind of young aren't you?" Joel asked, moving away from Jessie

"She isn't one of mine" Marlene said, trying to stand herself up

"Oh shit" The girl breathed out, running over to help her "What happened" She helped Marlene over to a table that she could rest herself on

"Don't worry, this is fixable" She nodded towards Tess, Joel and Jessie "I found some people to help us... but I can't come with you"

"Well then I'm staying"

"Ellie, we won't get another shot at this"

"Hey" Joel intervened "We're smuggling her?"

"There's a crew of Fireflies that will meet you at the capitol building£

"The Capitol building? That's that" Jessie clicked her fingers, trying to remember "The court, right? Hey, man that's a really long trip" She finished

"You're capable" Marlene told her "Hnad her off, come back and then the weapons are yours. Double what Robert sold me" Did she mean price or quantity?

"Speaking of which, where are they?" Tess countered

"Back in our camp"

"We're not smuggling shit until I see them"

"You'll follow me" Sighed Marlene "You can verify the weapons. I can get patched up. But she is not crossing to that side of town" She pointed at Ellie "I wan't Joel to watch over her"

"Woah, woah, woah I don't think thats a good idea"

"Bullshit! I'm not going with him" The two of them yelled at the same time

"Ellie..." Marlene pleaded with her

"How do you know them?" she asked

"I was close with his brother Tommy, her uncle" She looked at Joel then Jessie "Said if I was ever in a Jam I could count on him and she wouldn't be far behind"

"Was that before or after he joined your little Militia group?" Joel asked

"He left you too" Marlene shot back "He was a good man"

"Look, just take her to the north tunnel and wait for me there" Tess stepped in

"Jesus christ" Joel breathed out, not believing she was actually going through with it

"She's just cargo"

"People aren't Cargo" Jessie leaned herself against the wall and put pressure back on her arm. Joel and Tess looked back at her with narrowed eyes "What? It's just a fact" She mumbled

"Don't take long" He told Tess, he then looked back at Ellie "And you - stay close"

"What about me?" Jessie asked, stepping forward "Am I going with Tess or you?"

"Neither" Joel stated

"What?"

"I need you to go back the apartment, clean yourself up then meet me at the tunnel got it? And bring some food, we're gonna need it for the trip" And with that, he left with Ellie close behind. Soon after that Marlene and Tess were gone and it was just Jessie

"Well alright then" She huffed before heading out


	4. You Made Me

Jessie stealthily made her way back to the slum's which turned out to be easier than she thought it would be since there was suppose to be guards out checking to make sure there is no one outside like her but... not one guard to be seen. She walked down the narrow street's trying not to touch anything in case she would be made to buy it and headed towards the tunnel's "Hey you seen Amy today?" She asked Tim as she pulled herself up from the dark tunnel and into the building that hid it

"Yeah she came by not the long ago, headed back to her place" He told her "Oh and Steven came by" He walked around the couch and pulled up a guitar "Told me to pass this back to you since he couldn't hold on to it"

Jessie nodded and took the guitar, thanking him. This was better, she could surprise Amy with a song! It was cringy as hell and Amy would love it and then they would both laugh. Jessie would try not to take too long at Amy's since she had to get back to her dad and that kid but she felt like she had to apologise to her so she might be five minutes late

Jessie strolled along the street, her arms swinging by her side and a tune whistling from her lips. Again there was no military in sight which meant they must of had much better things to do than prosecute stragglers that where just trying to get home

She opened the door to the apartment building and jogged up the stairs until she was at the top level and quietly made her way to the very last door on the right. She pulled the guitar to her front and started quietly strumming a song as she entered the apartment

"We are one. one for sure" She started as she crept through. Amy's normally tidy apartment was a wreck; things were lying all over the place along with her fancy clothes. Amy wasn't in sight which meant she must be in her bedroom. Looks like she's gonna be getting woken up

"All united. You'll want some more" Jessie continued, stepping over a washing basket

"Oh oh oh oh. You make me" She sung a bit louder, pushing the bedroom door open with her feet "Oh oh oh oh. You make me..." Her voice faded out and her face hardened when she saw Amy laying on the bed with Cassandra on top of her

She always hated Cassandra

"Oh my god Jessie" Cassandra almost screamed when she saw the girl standing in the door way, guitar in hand. She gathered up some sheets to cever her body as she made her way over to try and say her apologies. This is why Jessie hated her; she was a woos, didn't have a mean bone in her body and was especially scared of Jessie which pissed Jessie off. Why the hell was she scared of her? Is she scary? Is that a good thing?

Jessie took the guitar straps off and lowered the instrument down, keeping one hand clutching the neck. Cassandra was in front of her now, crying and pouring out words that Jessie wasn't listening to. All she saw was red

"Please! She told me that you guy's weren't tog-" Jessie cut Cassandra short when she brought the guitar up and smacked her in the face. Cassandra did a flip as she fell through the air, clutching her cheek and screaming when she landed on the floor. Jessie's cheek flinched and she cracked her neck

"JESSIE STOP!" Amy was next to her now, grabbing a hold of her arm and Jessie just pushed her aside and she stood herself over Cassandra's quivering body. She snarled at the black haired bitch, raising the guitar up over her head and then bringing it down again and again until the guitar snapped and the walls were painted red

Jessie then turned her attention over to Amy who was a sobbing mess on the floor and was screaming hate at Jessie but that quickly stopped when Jessie advanced on her. Jessie's hand went to her throat and yanked her up so they were eye level. Amy was only around 5ft so she was dangling in the air, clawing at Jessie's Iron like grip

"WHY?!" She yelled, spitting in her face. When Amy didn't answer, Jessie threw her back down. There was no way in hell Amy was answering her in this state. She looked around and her eye's landed on the night stand where Amy's own knife was resting and then slowly looked back at Amy

-O-

Ellie was sitting on an old armchair that she dragged over to the window so she could watched the outside. She was so close. She had never been outside the zone before and this whole idea was so exciting to her. Then the reason she was going out came flooding back into her mind and her eyes rolled down and looked at her arm which was wrapped around her leg

"_What are we gonna do?" Ellie sniffed into her hand. She never meant for this to happen. She should of never agreed to come to this stupid mall. Maybe then her and Riley would have another couple of years instead of days_

"_Well... the way I see it we got two options" Riley fiddled with the gun in her hands "Option one. We take the easy way out" She lifted the weapon up and turned it around in the air "Quick and painless" She dropped it down in front of her and rested her head back against the wooden bench's seat. They were to lazy to actually sit on it so they decided on the floor and to rest against it "I'm not a fan of option one" Riley looked at Ellie to see her thoughts. When Ellie didn't even look at her, she sighed and looked forward "Two... we fight" this caught Ellie of guard. What was there to fight for?_

"_Fight for what?" She said, putting her thoughts into words. They were going to die just like everyone else on the planet who met their fate "We're gonna turn into one of those things"_

"_There are a million ways we should of died before today" Riley replied sullenly "And A million ways we can die before tomorrow. But we fight... for every second we get to spend with each other. Weather it's two minutes or two days... we don't give that up. I don't__** want**__ to give that up. My vote... let's just wait it out y'know? We can be all poetic and just lose our minds together"_

"_Whats option three?" Ellie asked quietly, hoping that just maybe there was a way that they could get out of this alive_

"_Sorry" Riley replied "C'mon.. let's get out of here"_

Ellie wished that she had chosen option one. If she had then she would be dead like she should be and she might of even been buried along side Riley when their bodies were discovered. That would of been the nicer option; the option that stopped her from watching her best friend die while she was completely fine

Ellie was pulled out of her thoughts when the door was flung open and (Jessie?) fell through it. Jessie quickly crawled back over to the door and slammed it and then pressed her back up against it and buried her face in her hand's. Ellie stood up and slowly made her way over "Hey are you a- What the hell happened?!" she gasped when she saw the amount of blood Jessie was covered in

Jessie looked up and Ellie saw how her face was; Hollow eyes, mouth pulled into a straight line. Jessie wouldn't of known what was wrong with her if she hadn't spotted the dried tears that were stuck to her cheeks "I'll get Jo-" Jessie reached up and grabbed Ellie's arm, pulling her back

"No" she said, not emotion in her voice whatsoever. She was so hard to read it was unbearable. Clearly something went down but she wasn't giving anything away "I need to change" she said after a long pause. She was just starting to get her thoughts together now

Ellie watched as Jessie stood up and pushed past her and made her way towards the small bathroom of to the side "What the hell happened?" She called, her curiosity getting the best of her. Jessie stopped still and her shoulders slumped. She turned her head slightly and closed her eyes

"I don't know" she whispered before going into the bathroom and slamming the door which woke Joel

"What's wrong?" He asked, sitting himself up. Ellie was still standing by the door where Jessie had been. She turned to look at Joel with a mix of concern and confusion on her face

"No idea"

When Jessie emerged from the bathroom in a new pair of clothes that were blood stain free she waited for her dad to explode at her at why she was covered in blood previously but he never did. She stole a glance at Ellie and the girl looked back with a nod; she didn't tell him?

Jessie took her place on the couch next to her father who was leaning back with his arms crossed over his chest. There was no way in hell he was getting back to sleep now and they still had a lot of time to kill. Jessie however, needed some sleep bad so decided then that it was her turn. She rested on her dad's lap, brought her legs up on the couch and quickly fell asleep

-O-

Jessie was rudely awoken by a tough pair of hands yanking her off the couch. In a fit of rage and confusion, she jumped up and flung her fist out, hoping to hit whatever had grabbed her. Another hand grabbed her wrist and held her in place

"JESSIE!" it was only when Tess screamed her name did Jessie realise it was her

"Tess what the hell are you doing!?" Joel yelled at her but Tess was't listening, she was purely focused on Jessie

"Did you know?" Tess tried to make eye contact with Jessie but she kept moving her face away "Jessie" she shook her

"Tess" Joel warned

"Stay back Joel" she bit at him before turning back to Jessie "Was it you" she lowered her voice. Tess knew it was Jessie but she had to hear her say it. When she was making her way here, she noticed that there was a large number of people and soldiers around a particular apartment building so she decided to check it out. When she managed to get a view into the room she was almost sick. There was blood everywhere and if someone hadn't told her it was Cassandra she never would of known. The girl's face was smashed in and next to her was a very blood and broken guitar. Before she even got a good look at Amy, Tess was shoved out the room by a soldier and thenthe door was locked and more soldiers ordered everyone away with the threat that they would be prosecuted

"Well?" She asked again, her voice breaking. She was sure Jessie had her anger under control... she spent so long trying to help her with it

"Yes" she said quietly

"What?"

"I SAID YES!" Jessie screamed, yanking her hand back "I killed them" she turned away, ashamed

"Who?" Joel stepped in again but Tess put her hand up to stop him coming any closer

"Why?" She asked her

"Does it matter?" Jessie glared. She shouldn't feel bad. It was their fault not her's; atleast that's what she told herself. She would tell herself anything to justify what she did. To make herself feel better about the whole thing

"Tess do you mind explaini-"

"She killed Amy and Cassandra" Tell explained

"She what?!" Joel looked over at his daughter who was staring at the floor. It was then he started to notice the dried blood in her hair. His he did notice it before, he must of brushed it off; told himself that it was from when she was fighting "Why?!" he barked, demanding an explination

"Does it matter?" Jessie yelled back "It's done! Me telling you why wont change that! it wont make any of us fell better" Maybe the reason she didn't want to tell was because she didn't want Amy to look back. After everything, she still loved her and telling everyone that she was a cheater, a slut... that didn't feel right to Jessie "Let's just change the subject. Tess" she turned her attention to the older women "Would you be as kind to tell us about the guns you went to go see?"

Tess sighed. If Jessie refused to talk there was no point pushing it and that pained her "It's there... and there's a lot of it" She looked up at Joel who was still shocked and slightly annoyed that they were changing the subject so quickly "You wanna do this?" She glanced at Ellie

Jole paused, still thinking things over in his head. He was going to have the push the whole Jessie thing to the side, save it for later. They had bigger fish to fry at this moment "Yeah" he finally said and then the four of them made their way into the back room which used to be a kitchen but all the counters had been stripped for wood and the fridge and stove... well no one actually knew where they went

"Don't you think it's a little strange that they're havin' us do their mugglin'?" Joel asked, standing next to Tess who was staring out the window to see what it was like ground level

Ellie and Jessie were leaning against the wall. Ellie kept glancing up at Jessie. She was this, tall beautiful stranger who seemed to have some demons fighting in her head a lot. Ellie could relate. She wanted to say something to her; see if she was okay but she had no clue what words would help. What do you say to someone who has just killed two people? Violently aswell

"Marlene wanted to do it herself. We weren't their first choice, or even their second for that matter. She's lost a lot of men... Beggars can't be choosers"

"Let's just hope there's someone alive to pay us" Joel grumbled

"Someone will be around" Tess reassured him, walking to the opposite side of the room. She pushed a bookcase out of the way to reveal a gap in the wall that was just big enough for a person to fit through "C'mon" she muttered, ushering the two girls through

The gap led into a slightly smaller room that had a generator in the corner since the rest of the room was filled up with the elevator that was put there a while back. Before this became the smugglers tunnel, it was used by the soldiers to bring in all the rations and medical supplies and they used this lift so they wouldn't have to carry the boxes up and down the stairs. No idea why they suddenly stopped but oh well, good news for the smugglers

Joel turned on the generator then stepped onto the lift. He pressed a button that was attatched to the wall by some sort of extension cable and then the lift started moving "Who's waiting for us at the drop off?" Joel asked Tess

"She Said theres some fireflies that have travelled all the way from another city" She glanced over at Ellie "Girl must be important"

"You some big guy's kid?" Jessie asked, looking at Ellie. Jessie never took Ellie as some important type. She was just a job. But apparently not... they better not damage her or else they might get killed for harming some big-wigs daughter

Ellie looked up at Jessie and gave her a half hearted smile "Something like that"

**Am I a bad person? I feel like a bad person... Poor Amy ;-; **

**Lol just kidding fuck that bitch. How DARE she cheat on Jessie with that annoying Cassandra. You aint even allowed to call her Cas for short. She aint no Angel *Supernatural reference***

**Follow/Favourite if you want to see more and PM/Review to tell me what you liked/didn't like about this chapter or the story in general**

**~Daniel**


	5. What If?

Everything was so fucked. They had barely left the city and they had already been downed by soldier's. This was suppose to be simple! Jessie had just crawled through a dirty man made whole that could collapse at any given second and trekked through mud in the rain for this kid! For what? To be smacked in the face with the butt of a gun and then have that very gun held pushed against her scalp. Jessie was not in the mood to be prosecuted at the moment and especially since they have her prints back at the zone which they will match to Amy's room! God. Dammit

"Shut up" The male soldier said, pushing the scanner onto Tess' neck; She was trying to pay him off with ration cards. The female soldier was behind them, calling in backup for the four stragglers that they were. Stragglers was such a stupid term. Why not ninja's because of they way they managed to ninja past the soldiers

"I'm tired of this shit" The male soldier complained as he pushed the scanner against Joel's neck. Why the hell was he complaining? He basically had all the power. He should try being on the opposite end of things sometime soon

When he reached her she felt like kicking out and running. The scanner felt so weird on your neck. It had a little needle on the end of it and she wasn't sure why. Why did it need that needle? Did it help at all or do they just like stabbing people? "Clean" He called out, pulling it away. Then he moved over to Ellie

Jessie watched Ellie, curious. Why did she looked so panicked? like she was thinking things over in her head. Jessie knew that look too well. It wasn't just anything she was planning in her head. Ellie then got a sudden spark and Jessie couldn't help yell out "Ellie NO!" As Ellie pulled her knife on the soldier and stabbed him in the leg. She stood up to try and grab his gun and the Soldier shoved her down. Jessie punched on the soldier before he could shoot Ellie and fought for the gun while Joel and Tess worked as a team to take out the female. Jessie struggled as she pushed the gun towards the ground and in one final pushed she slammed it next to his head and forced him to pull the trigger. She slummed back, panting and then looked over at Ellie who was still against the crates, panicked as ever

"What is it with you and stabbing people?" she breathed out, pulling her legs up to her chest, trying to get her breath back. Why did Soldier's have to be so strong? It's a lot easier injuring someone weaker then you

"I thought we were just gonna hold 'em up or something" she said, burying her face in her hands. Why would she think that? Well.. She has never experienced something like this before has she? She did say she had never been outside the zone before. Guess it's a lot more different to the inside

Tess sighed, picking up the Scanner. What was on it surprised her. She threw it to Joel who in turn threw it down to Ellie "Why the hell are we smuggling an infected girl" He yanked Jessie up to her feet and pulled her away as though he was fearful Ellie could turn then and there and rip her to shreds

"Infected?" Jessie gasped, glancing over to Ellie "Since when?" They met Ellie what? 20 hours ago? Wouldn't there of been a sign. Fever, erratic behaviour; stuff like that? Then again she did stab a soldier but that doesn't count does it?

"I'm not infected" Ellie said, swallowing the lump in her thrat and shaking her head lightly

"No?" He kicked the scanner clsoer to her "This lying?"

"I can explain" she tried defending herself

"You better explain fast" Tess took a step closer to her, griping her gun tighter. Jessie went wide eyed at this action. Was Tess ready to shoot a little girl who may or may not be infected?

"_If's_ she infected you can't just shoot her, Tess! She ain't a sick dog needin' put down!" Jessie argued. Jessie may be a little whack in the head but she still had morals

"Why the hell you defending her?" Joel looked at his daughter who was now stumbling for words. Jessie failed her hands around a little bit before finally shrugging. She honestly had no why she felt the need to protect her. Morals or not Jessie shouldn't care about this stranger

"Look! look at this!" Ellie brought their attention back to her, her sleeve pulled up to reveal a bite mark on her lower arm, just above her wrist. Joel turned and waved her off

"I don't care how you got infected"

"It's three weeks old!" Jessie looked down at her with a brow raised. Three weeks? That's impossible! It takes up to two days to turn so she's got to be lying.. right? But again, they haven't seen any clear signs that would normally indicate someone was turning

"Really?" Jessie asked, becoming more curious by the second

"Yes!" Ellie was hopeful that atleast one of the three people in front of her believed her bizarre story

"You aint actually buying this bullshit, Jess?"

"Think about it! We've had her since early yesterday so by now she should of been showing some symptoms but look at her!" Jessie pointed at Ellie "Healthy as fuck!"

"Maybe she's a special case._ Everyone_ turns within two days" Tess argued "She could start the process any minute!"

"Doubtful" Jessie huffed, turning to her dad "Look I'm not saying anything extreme but maybe it's just some kind of... fluke. Maybe that's why the fireflies want her. Either way we can't kill her. The fireflies want her so if we kill her they'll kill us"

"We don't have time for this" Joel informed them as he saw two headlights that belonged to FEDRA's disappearing truck. It aquired that name when people where picked up in it and were never saw again "run" he whispered before grabbing Jessie's arm and yanking her along with him and Tess did the same with Ellie

The three of them kept quiet as they snuck through an old sewer pipe that was partly visible due to the bombings twenty years ago. Took down half the city and brought the other half up. What where they even thinking blowing up the streets to try and get rid of the infected? Do you know how many innocent people they could of killed in that process? Fighting for public safety by putting the public in danger. They were idiots back then

When the arrived up top onto one of the street's that were littered with soldier's, Jessie tried a different approach. She grabbed a nearby brick and hurtled it on the opposite direction she wanted to go and before anyone could stop her she had skidded away and vaulted herself through a small gap in what used to be a house and pushed herself up against the brick to catch her breath. Did that work? they really didn't see her? _Nice_

She then waited for the other's to appear near her and ive her an angry look before she distracted the newest set of soldiers and run off. As crazy as it was, it work and she was home free down in a hole in the ground. She placed her hands on her hips and bent over to catch her breath and only looked up when she heard a thud; friend or foe?

"What the hell was that?" Joel asked, clearly annoyed

"That... was... " she gulped, taking a deep breath "awesome"

"You could of gotten killed" he hissed, leaning towards her

"but I didn't" she grinned, taking another few deep breaths "Realx... dad. M'fine"

"For now" he grunted before leading the three of them back into a sewer pipe and eventually into a basement that used to be under a house. Now it was just under ground. Their hadn't been a house here for a very long time. They came up top-side and headed towards the city and finally they felt they were safe enough away from the crowd of soldiers that were set on hunting their asses down

Tess thought it best to get back to the conversation with Ellie "Look - what was the plan? Let's say we deliver you to the fireflies, what then?"

"Marlene..." Ellie sighed "She said that they have their own little quarantine zone with doctors there still trying to find a cure"

"Yeah we've heard that before, huh Tess?" Joel groaned

"Shut up, Dad!" Jessie snapped at him before looking back at Ellie to listen to the conversation. She could sense him ready to retort something so she turned back and held a finger up "Shut. Up" she then turned back and awaited Ellie to continue speaking

"And... whatever happened to me is the key to finding a vaccine" she finished, staring at her lap

"So... you're like the cure to all this shit?" Jessie asked, trying to get a better understanding of what Ellie was saying. Sure she guessed this was the reason but she never suspected she was right.

"I- I guess" Ellie clarified, feeling slightly better about the situation. She had never thought of it like that. Up until now she was just some freak who couldn't even die right. 'Cure to all this shit' sounded a lot better that what she called herself

"What are we even doing here, Tess?" Joel declared, angry

"What if it's true?" Tess countered, stepping in front of him

"What makes you think it's not?" Jessie chimed in. They had enough facts to prove that Ellie is who she says she is so why is he still denying everything. Does he not want to believe it?

"Because it's crazy!" He bit

"All of this is crazy! Look around you, dad. You're living in the apocalypse. Can't possibly get any crazier" Her statement seemed to stay in his mind and he though for a couple seconds. Before the outbreak he had seen dozens of cheaply made zombie flicks and laughed his head off when his friends talked about the "What if's" he called them crazy. Now look at him; everyday he fights for his life. What life though? This isn't life. This isn't living, this is surviving. They are not similar in any way shape or form

"Alright... so say this is true - which I'm not saying it is. But say it is..."

"Just a drop off, dad. Nothing more" Joel nodded, glancing at Ellie

"If we're quick we can make it to the capitol building by sundown" He said before turning and heading towards the downtown are that had those large buildings that towered over them that mesmerized Jessie. It was crazy to think that people had spent months if not years building these. And they way the looked! She just loved them. She loved everything about it. Maybe before she could of been an architect or a builder

-O-

"Okay so there are thirteen Dwarves?"

"Yeah; Ori, Nori, Dori, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Dwalin, Balin, Oin, Gloin Kili, Fili and Thorin"

"Right... and these are big guys?"

"Well... height wise. No. Muscle size, yeah"

"Right so why do they need a Hobbit to help them on this quest?"

"Because they needed a burglar and Hobbits can go un-seen when they want"

"So why does he need the ring?"

"He doesn't _need_ the ring so to say. It just comes in handy; especially when he is trying to find the arkenstone"

"The kings jewel?"

"Yes!"

"Okay... one more question"

"Go for it" For the past half hour Jessie had been telling Jessie about the book she read once called 'The Hobbit' and how it was her favourite book and she told her the full story, explained most of it and described how each and every one of the characters were her favourite... all of them

"Why didn't the eagles just drop them off?" Jessie stopped in her tracks and stared at Ellie. She explained that to her. She explained it over and over and she didn't seem to be able to understand that the eagles can't drop them off. The villagers would of thought they were there to steal their sheep and would end up shooting them down so they couldn't for safety purposes. Why wasn't she grasping this concept?

"And also is Mae a big character in it?" All these stupid questions. No Mae was not a big character in it. She was just kinda there and little bits with her and Thorin appeared and by the end they were married. It was well written but slightly confusing. Was Mae even needed? Apparently, a couple months before the outbreak they released a movie version and Mae was a big part of it but Jessie will believe that when she sees it

Jessie shook her head and walked off in front of Ellie, leaving her standing alone in the hallway "What?!" she threw up her arms before rushing after so she wouldn't be left behind "So change of subject... what's it like living in the zone?"

"Didn't you live in the zone?"

"Well yeah but... I was in a prep school. Didn't really get out a lot"

"Oh..." Jessie scratched the back of her head. She had never been to one of those schools. When the kids were younger, they were all brought to them, taken away from their parents but Jessie was too young when they started taking them and they didn't have the right things to take care of babies so she stayed with her dad and avoided the house calls they made every year to take in new kids. "Its uh... weird I guess. You wake up, do your job, head to the slums-"

"The slums?" Ellie asked, confused

"Yeah its this secret black market type place where you go to buy stuff that people have smuggled in from other places. I actually had a stall for a while but it got too much. Not enough buying, too much creepy flirting. I decided to make ration cards instead by winning fights"

"Oh that's cool. Where there any kids?"

"You mean kids who avoided the house calls? Well yeah... a couple. This one girl snuck out of the one in Boston - hey you might of known her! Blonde hair, real protective over anyone... ah hell you probably didn't" she gave Ellie a half smile "You woulda liked her"

"What happened to her?"

"Last I heard she joined the fireflies in another state"

"Oh... Do you any fireflies?" Jessie opened her mouth to talk but quickly shut up after Joel yelled at them from in front to hurry their slow asses up

"We better go" she said bluntly before jogging off to meet up with her dad and Tess

They had been walking through this large building for what felt like hours and she was starting to get tired. SHe probably would of taken a rest and made them wait if her dad hadn't pointed out that "Subway's just down here" it didn't seem like much but to Jessie it was a life saver. The subway was their ticket out of this place that felt like it was going to cave in at any given moment. They make it through the subway and their home free

**You may notice that I added the Hobbit in here and you will only understand who Mae is if you read my Hobbit story 'I See Fire' so sorry about that for those of you who don't want to read it or just dont like the hobbit. You will continue having no idea who she is**

**So yes I finally uploaded a new chapter and I'm sorry that I have been busy but I stayed up all night writing this chapter for you so feel special! **

**How about those Jessie and Ellie interactions, huh? I have big things ahead for those two (nothing romantic that would be creepy and shame on you for thinking thats what I mean)**

**To Amanda - I knew Kara's name was gonna pop up at some point . **

**Follow/favourite if you want to see more and PM/review to tell me what you liked/didn't like about this chapter or the story in general**


	6. Sunshine and Rainbows

Why did everything bad have to happen to them? Why couldn't they get one lucky break, huh? Why couldn't everything that was going smoothly end smoothly? These were the thoughts going through Jessie's mind right now as she stared at Tess's bite mark. Of course this wasn't the only bad thing that had happened in the last five minutes; just another topping to the shit cake

Turns out something else had gotten to the fireflies before they did as when they walked into the capitol building, they were dead. Tess' unusual response to it should of tipped them off -the way she refused to give up even after there was nothing else should of warned them. Of course she was bit... of course this is how it had to end. But Jessie didn't _want_ it to end. She loved Tess like a mother. Tess had been there for as long as she could remember and to just have her ripped away like this... Saying Jessie was heartbroke didn't even cover it

She began to wonder when it might of happened; in the museum? in the subway? When those three runners got the jump on them when they were trying to get over the truck? Those were the only scenarios Jessie could think of. Even in those places they were _so_ careful but it just wasn't enough, was it? One of them _had_ to die. Their luck really was running out

Jessie guessed it had to run out at some point -after everything good that had happened, she should of guessed it would never last. From finding the safe filled with spare parts for their weapons to being able to safely get past infected and guards. It was all too perfect -too good to be true. You can't have a rainbow without some rain she guessed

"You've got to get this girl to Tommy's! He used to run with this crew. He'll know where to go" Tess' voice cracked, ordering Joel. She dropped Ellie's arm and moved closer to him after seeing his skepticism. After everything he was still so unsure

"No, no, no" Joel pointed his finger at her "That was your crusade!" Jessie sometimes forgot that thats how they met Tess. She used to be a firefly like Tommy. When he left she stayed "I am not doin' that!"

"Yes you are!" Tess argued "Look. Theres enough here that you have to feel some sort of obligation to me" she got up close to him "So you get that girl to Tommy's"

They were suddenly pulled from their dispute when the sounds of approaching trucks from outside and the yells of soldiers distracted them. _Shit!_ they had been found. "They're here" Tess pointed out, glancing at the window. She turned back to the three of them, pulling her gun out "I can by you some time. But you have to run"

"Tess" Jessie croaked, shaking her head "You can't do that!... I wont _let_ you!" she tried hardening her voice, making her seem more serious but all it did was show how desperate she was

"Jessie..." Tess warned, not wanting the girl to make her feel any worse about what she was doing. She knew it was the right thing, that she would be dying anyhow but somehow it just made her feel like she abandoning them after everything "I will not turn into one of those... those_ things!_"

"Please Tess" Jessie begged, taking a step forward. Tess shook her head, cursed herself then walked towards the girl and wrapped her arms around her. No matter how much more difficult this made it for her, she had to have one last hug from her. Tess leaned in and whispered encouraging words into her ear then pulled back, keeping one hand firm on her shoulder

Jessie quickly wiped away a tear from her eye and nodded her head in agreement "Good" Tess said, wetting her drying lips "Good" she repeated a bit quieter before turning around, coming back to reality "They're gonna be here any second so you gotta go now"

"I can fight-" Joel tried to reason with her but she cut him short by pushing him in the direction of the stairs

"_Go_" All the emotion that had been in her voice had been replaced with a hard tone that dripeed with seriousness. She was done playing. She was done doing little back and forth's. She was done "Now"

Joel gulped and nodded "Ellie" he called, walking backwards slowly

"I -I didn't mean for any of this" She told them, voice shaking. She was so sorry -sorry that she brought them into this mess, sorry that she had essentially gotten Tess killed, Sorry for everything. Because she didn't ask for this either -she didn't ask the Cordyceps that were growing in her brain to fuck up and cause her immunity

"C'mon" Joel tugged Jessie's shoulder, pulling er back from her stance. Jessie took a step back and turned and began walking away, taking Ellie along with her. She couldn't think about it; the more she did the more it would hurt... but she had to say one last thing. She stopped, turning her face and looked at Tess with a grim expression

"See ya later, Tess" she told the women before continueing towards the stairs in a quicker pace. It was true -what she said. She was going to see Tess again. Either down below or up above... that's if there was anything after you died. Jessie wanted to believe in god but then the thought that always came back was why? Why would god do this? Why would someone who is suppose to love everyone, cause so much death and destruction?

The three of them made their way through the run down building in forced silence. Anytime one of them tried to talk they were immediately shut up. No one knew how to deal with Tess's death yet; they didn't really want to deal with it because if they did that would make it real

It's not that they weren't good at stealth it's just they didn't get enough practice at it. They were smart about things of course but whenever they tried being sneaky they ended up spotted and having to shoot their way through dilemma's . That's what happened now. There was a lot of FEDRA soldiers covering the rooms so it made it difficult to even try to think of how they would sneak past. Look on the bright side though, Jessie only got grazed by a bullet when they were running past and that's a whole lot better than what she thought would happen when they decided to wing it

"You alright?" Joel asked her when they stopped in the subway, looking at the tear in her shirt and the blood that was dripping from it. Jessie looked to where he was pointing and did a '_Will-you-look-at-that_' face. She hadn't even realised with all the adrenaline pumping through her veins

"Just dandy" She replied, trying to even her breaths

"Great... put on your mask" He told her, "Spores" She did as he said by taking the gas mask from her bag and attatching it to her face before taking another step. They jogged in line with each other into the platform where Ellie was waiting

"You really weren't kidding, huh?" Jessie asked her, noticning that she was breathing in enough spores to take down atleast ten men

"Why would I lie?" She responded, trying to be serious but ended up smirking. Together they both walked through the tunnel with Joel close behind. Jessie was about to start swimming in the water that had gradually began getting deeper when Ellie stopped her

"I uh.. I can't swim" Jessie groaned and fell backwards so she was floating on her back

"Lame" she commented

"Jessie" Joel warned her as he swam past "I'll think of something Ellie" he told the young girl before nudging Jessie so she would get off her back and actually do some swimming. Together the two of them swam under a tram that was turned over and blocking the path and both emerged on the other side

"Ellie?!" Jessie called out, turning herself in the water

"Over here!" She heard Ellie call. She saw her wading her way along the path that connected the platforms that hadn't been as submerged as the rest of the tracks. Jessie swam over to the lower platform where Ellie was and pulled herself up to get out of the freezing water for a second. She rubbed her face on her forearm and yawned. Swimming always made her tired

"We could use that ladder" Joel mentioned, swimming over to a crate that was floating alone. He could use this. He pushed it threw the water and towards Ellie "Jump on" he told her. She was skeptical at first but eventually agreed and warned him not to tip her over

Jessie slid back in the water and blew out a shaky breath. Why did it have to be so cold? She swam over to where Ellie was now climbing onto the higher platform and dropping down the ladder her dad was talking about. Her dad insisted she climbed up first and she didn't argue. Anything to get out of the water.

She shook her limbs once she was standing, trying to dry them and create heat at the same time. Good thing she had some spare clothes in her bag which thankfully was waterproof. Stylish and useful

They followed the tunnels out of the subway and sighed with relief when they felt the sunshine on their faces once more. Though Jessie couldn't help feel that it shouldn't be such a bright day when so much crap has happened. Her dad must of been thinking the same thing as his whole 'do-not-fuck-with-me' persona came back and that was proven when Ellie tried to apologize and he completely shut her down

"Here's how this things gonna play out" He started, directing his full attention to her "You dont bring up Tess - Ever. Matter of fact, why don't we just keep our histories to ourselves" he gave a sidelong glance at Jessie as if to tell her 'That means you too' which she picked up on. He then continued his speech, looking back at Ellie "Secondly. Don't tell anybody about your condition. Ever. They'll think your crazy or they'll try to kill you. And lastly... you do what I say, when I say it. We clear?"

Hands on her sides and looking down, Ellie nodded, understanding him perfectly. She still thought he was a dick but right now she couldn't blame him as much as she would of liked to

"Repeat it" Joel ordered, not happy with just a nod

Ellie sighed and looked him dead in the eyes "What you say goes"

Joel was still un-satisfied but took what he could get "Good" he stood himself up and looked around, trying to get his bearings. He had never exactly been down this way... not for a long time atleast "There should be a town... a few miles North of here. Theres a fellow here that owes me a couple favours... good chance he could get us a car"

"Who Bill? Ha!" Jessie snorted, looking away

"What?" Joel asked

"We are talking about the same Bill here, right?" she asked, a brow raised. Joel still stared at her the same way, not fully understanding what she was getting at

"You know what? Sure.. let's go ask Bill for some favours" she giggled at the end of her sentence, walking past her dad. Bill cashing in favours? that'll be day

**Oh no Tess ;-; **

**So slightly shorter chapter but sill the same quality... hopefully. And yas we're gonna see Bill next chapter! Bill is my spirit animal**

**Sorry I haven't updated in a while but I kinda got forced to waste my weekend babysitting my sister instead of wasting it writing. How much does that suck? I mean I had planned to write like five chapters of a TWD story and instead I was stuck with crappy internet and a screaming toddler! Lyke dis if u cri everyteem**

**Follow/favourite if you want to see more and PM/Review to tell me what you liked/didn't like about this chapter or the story in general!**

**~Daniel**

**(P.S who is your spirit animal? It appears I have many. Brittany from MPGIS seems to be one of them. I don't care if I'm a boy! She is queen )**


	7. Bill and His Stupid Traps

Bill... How do you even begin to describe someone like Bill? The first thing you might notice when you see him is his weight. He was a large man, probably weighed two times more than Joel. But it wasn't just fat that made him up. He was probably 50% muscle give or take. He appeared to be in his late forties (also like Joel) and had shoulder length light-ish brown hair that he kept spit back so it wouldn't get in his face. Jessie never asked him about it, be she assumed he was a mechanic before the outbreak since he was pretty good at repairing vehicles and building things out of scrap. Bill lived with his boyfriend (though he preferred to call him partner) Frank alone in a little town called Lincoln in Massachusetts. Everyone that lived there left quite some time ago so it was only them and an unusual amount of infected.

Bill told her never to tell Joel and Tess about his partner. He didn't want it known that he had someone he cared about in case the wrong person heard. He didn't want Frank put in danger because of him. A lot of people had Bill in their bad books for a variety of reasons but they could never seem to find him. Only a select few knew his whereabouts and most of them had never even been there. Like Joel who was mostly relying on Jessie to guide him in the right direction since it was her and one other guy who had even been to Bill's town. But on the off chance someone did find him that shouldn't of, he didn't want Frank to be used against him. Till this day, it's only Jessie that knows about Frank

"There" Jessie stopped on the road and pointed at the sign that read "**LINCOLN**" in bold letters. She jogged forward until the town became visible in the distance "We're here" She turned to her dad and Ellie who were still lagging behind

"It'll be quicker going through here" Her dad commented, vaulting over the metal fence that lined the mountain road and dropping down into the forest below. Jessie rolled her eyes but followed after all the same. She had never taken this route before, just stuck to the path. The road took you to this giant wall that had a gate type thing on it and that's where Bill was normally waiting with the supplies. He didn't like leaving his town so it was always them that went to him

"Man..." Ellie awed at the scenery, doing a full 360 degrees turn slowly

"What?" Joel asked, looking at her with a brow raised

"Nothing it's just... I've never seen anything like this"

"You mean the woods?"

"Yeah" she nodded "Never walked through the woods"

"It everything you thought it be?" Jessie wondered, looking over at Ellie. She remembers her first time in the woods. The colours, the noises the little animals and just the feeling of freedom. It sounds weird now but back then... it was just amazing

"Yeah..." She muttered, still looking around at everything, taking in all the details. The three continued on their way through the forest. Joel and Ellie talked for a bit about Marlene. Jessie wasn't really listening, just paying attention to the forest. It _had_ been a while since she had just... taken a walk. It was nice. She strolled through, her hands in her back pocket and her eyes wondering. Everything was just so perfect. Jessie didn't even want to think about how this place used to look. Ever since things went to shit, nature had just taken over and Jessie had to say she liked it. She had seen pictures of what the world looked like and it was nothing compared to this

"Hey!" Jessie's head snapped back and looked over at her dad who was watching her curiously. It almost looked like he admired her wonder "You comin'?"

"Yeah.. sorry" She said, jogging forward to catch up. She stopped beside her dad, smiled at him and then moved past him and up the hill to where the large fence was that was separating them from the town

-O-

After they had managed to get in the town safely (with the acceptation that Jessie had jumped from that small building and over the fence instead of crossing the plank and almost breaking her ankle on the land) they had decided to search around for a bit. They came across a lot of different things, most of which Jessie had seen before. But she never really got a chance to explore.

"-Evacuation to where?" Ellie asked, stopping Jessie in her tracks and bringing attention to the large sign that was in the middle of the road

"Where you think? Quarantine Zone. See, some places got a heads up before the infection hit. Most didn't" He replied sullenly

"What about us?"

"Huh?" He looked over to Jessie who was staring at the sign, reading it all

"Did we get a heads up?" Joel's eyes fell to the ground, remembering that fateful night twenty years ago. It was probably the oldest memory he could recall in so much detail. Maybe if they had been given a heads up, they would of been able to get out quicker and maybe.. just maybe Sarah would still be alive

"Uhm.." He collected himself "No, no we didn't"

"Must be hard" Ellie added "Leaving all your stuff behind like that"

Joel scratched the back of his neck and sucked in a breath "Trust me... that ain't the worst part"

"Hey, look on the bright side. Atleast none of us bit the dust on the way out of Texas" Jessie said, trying to lighten the mood

Joel put on a smile and nodded "Yeah... all of us made it out" God, it pained him to say that, knowing it wasn't true. He felt like he was wiping Sarah off the map by keeping Jessie in the dark about it. He didn't like talking about her, wouldn't taltk about her if Jessie did know but... it felt wrong this way. A girl should know if she had an older sister, right?

Jessie was about to reply with something along the lines of '_Cheer up, pops_' or '_Who put a stick up your ass?_' but was cut short when she noticed a large sign down the road that was just above the entrance to a multi story building that used to double as apartments and before Ellie or Joel could stop her, she was running towards '**MARQUIS MUSIC STORE**'

"Woah... look at this place" Ellie exclaimed, walking in after Jessie

"I know right" Jessie agreed, excited as she admired all the albums in the displays. She always had a weird thing for music. Maybe it was the sound, or maybe the bands themselves but whatever it was, she liked it

"Do you know any of them?" Ellie asked, coming next to Jessie. Jessie nodded, biting her lip as she looked at all the CD cases: Kansas, Hinder, Train, AC/DC, Imagine Dragons, Mumford and Sons, 3 Doors down! It was like this store was made for her

"Sad huh" Ellie pointed out, bringing Jessie out of her little music trance so she could look at her

"What is?"

"All this music... no one here to listen to it" Jessie furrowed her brows and bit her lip, thinking over what Ellie said. Was she always such a downer?

"Tell you what" Jessie started, picking up a bunch of CD's and placing them in her bag "If I find a working Stereo, then I will play this music and let you enjoy it with me. sound good?"

"Sure" Ellie smirked, agreeing. Couldn't go as bad as the last time she listened to music through a stereo, right?

"YOU TWO COMIN'?" Joel yelled from outside the shop, clearly getting annoyed at the fact they were taking so long. After the two of them apologized, the three of them were on their way again. Jessie guided them down an Alley near the shop, saying it was the easiest way to get to Bill's church

"Clicker!" Ellie yelled and Joel was already pulling out his pistol. Jessie held her arm up, stopping him from firing and visibly unimpressed. She nodded her head towards the clicker that was getting closer and Joel was ready to push her hand away when the clicker tripped a wire he didn't see and exploded

"Woah... nelly" Ellie breathed out, jogging forward "What the _hell_ was that?"

"_That_ my dear Ellie, is one of Bills many traps. Thankfully I knew about that one so count yourself lucky you didn't run into it" Jessie smiled at the girl before moving past her and around the corner and heading towards the white truck with a ladder propped up against it

"Geez" Ellie commented, looking down at an Infected's body that had multiple arrows sticking out of it. "Your friend Bill good with a bow?"

Jessie placed her foot on its chest as she pulled the arrows out "Yup" she grunted, the last one that was stuck in its throat was the hardest to get out "But I'm better" she said smugly before heading off again

Ellie turned to Joel, a weird look on her face "She's kinda..."

"Yup" He sighed before following his daughter up the truck. When he got the top, Jessie was admiring a nice looking Bow she had picked up that was next to a not so good looking armchair where Bill probably used to sit for hours, just waiting for Infected to wonder by so he could shoot an arrow into them

"You should let me use that. I'm a pretty good shot" Ellie told Jessie

Jessie raised a brow for a brief second as she continued admiring the bow "I don't doubt it that for a second" 

"So you're gonna let me use it?"

"Hell no" 

"Why don't you leave this stuff to us, Ellie" Joel said, agreeing with his daughter

"Oh c'mon, we could all be armed... cover each other" she tried to persuade them

"I don't think so" Joel chuckled, moving towards the plank that was already laid out between the truck and the roof of the building closest to them

"Ellie" Jessie said, slinging the bow on her back and the arrows in her bag "You'll get a weapon eventually...It's just..."

"You guys don't trust me" Ellie finished her sentence. Jessie shook her head

"No... well maybe him a little bit" she pointed her thumb behind her at her dad who was waiting for them on the roof "He'll get there" She Gave the girl a smile before motioning her to follow and she made her way over the plank carefully

They headed roof top to roof top, getting closer and closer to Bill's place. It had been a long time since Jessie had been here. Couple months probably? Bill had been sort of quiet on the whole smuggling thing. The drop her and Tess went on the day they got Ellie was actually the last batch of pills they had to offer since they hadn't been able to get any more from Bill. He better be alive

"Now... Bill aint exactly the most stable of individuals" Joel warned Ellie and gave Jessie a warning kind of look when she snorted at his statement "Just... let us do the talking" He looked at Jessie when she dropped down from the last building "He seems to of taken a shining to you so don't fuck it up" 

"Gotcha" Jessie agreed, smiling

-O-

"Jessie, NO!" Joel reached out to grab his daughter but the rope trap that he had seen a second too late grabbed a hold of her ankle and yanked her up into the air. "Goddammit Bill" He cursed out, running to Jessie so he could steady her and free her form the endless mid-air swinging that he could tell was causing her to feel queasy

"What just happened?!" Ellie yelled out, breathless from the initial shock

"Bill happened!" Jessie answered, angry. _Fucking shit dicks!_ she cursed to herself. Did she just forget about this trap or was this recently built? No way she would of forgotten about it... Or did she? She was so dizzy she couldn't even think straight

"There -that fridge" Joel pointed Ellie to the other side of the warehouse "That looks like its the counterweight" 

"Okay" Ellie said, running over to it

"You alright" Joel said quietly to Jessie

"Just peachy" She bit, still pissed she had gotten caught in one of Bills stupid traps "Who the hell does he even make these for? He trying to catch infected? Or maybe his partner ran away" She joked

"What?"

"Huh?" she quickly said, raising her eyebrow like she hadn't heard a word from him and pretending that she didn't just say what she think she did

"JOEL!" Ellie yelled, stopping him from even thinking about what his daughter said. He looked behind him and saw Infected climbing over the gate behind the warehouse. This trap sure did make a lot of noise

"Shit... Can you still shoot?" He asked Jessie pulling a gun from his back pocket

"Course" she smiled, awkwardly reaching behind her to pull out her own pistol that was lodged in the back of her jeans "You take Left, I'll take right"

After around the forth infected was taken down, Ellie managed to cut the rope but instead of Jessie coming down, she was just hoisted further up as the fridge had ended up falling onto its side with most of the rope still attached to it

"Ellie" Joel breathed out, running over to the girl who had fallen along with the fridge. He helped her up, making sure she was alright

"I'm goo- JOEL!" She pointed behind him where A clicker was reaching out to grab him but never managed to make contact as Jessie shot it just in time

"Where the hell would you be without me?!" She laughed down to them, already aiming up her gun and firing at the other infected who were still piling in

"You get the rope. I'll cover you" Joel told Ellie

"Got it"

Jessie was still shooting at the infected when she felt a strange tugging on her legs. She looked up and then suddenly she was falling. She landed hard on the concrete and felt all the breath get knocked out of her. She groaned, pushing a hand the hip that was against the ground

"JESSIE!" She looked up and the pained expression she once had was replaced by sheer terror as a clicker jumped her. Her body screamed at her not to move but if she listened she would die so attempting to ignore the major pain that coursed through her body, she turned on her back and shot her arms up, keeping it at bay

Before Joel could even reach his daughter, A large masked man was next to her with a machete and was slicing said machete into the clickers face and then its throat, effectively taking its head off. Jessie pushed the now limp body off her and sat herself up, coughing and groaning. Never. Again

"Hey, can you walk?" A voice she could only identify as being Bills asked her. She hesitated. On one hand. she was in a lot of fucking pain, but on the other... she didn't wnat to seem weak "We don't got time for this" Bill bit. The next thing Jessie knew, Bill was holding her bridal style and running out of the Warehouse

In the end, theres only one way you can really Describe Bill and that is Loyal. No matter how fucked you may be, or how shitty he is feeling that day, he will always be there (If he can be that is)

**Sorry this chapter took so long but my depression and Procrastination were working together to make me not want to do this or anything really, but doubled. I pushed through though! I really wanted to write something and this was I decided to write since I kept thinking of future scenarios that I wanted to get to! **

**What kind of future scenarios you ask? Well I guess you will have to keep reading to find out ~leans in and whispers~ They're really fucking awesome**

**AND JESSIE! I hope that fall didn't... break anything ~Evil laughter~**

**You remember those bands I mentioned? Any of you guys like them? There were other bands I wanted to add in there but went against it for reasons unknown. Probably because I didn't want to add ever singly band that was on my phone**

**Follow/Favourite if you want to see more and PM/review to tell me what you liked/didn't like about this chapter or the story so far**

**~Daniel**


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